


It's Real If You See It

by AzcaSky



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, forest spirit dongju, gen - Freeform, mysterious city forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28288875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzcaSky/pseuds/AzcaSky
Summary: Geonhak walks into the city forest, and finds something a little mysterious, a little beautiful.
Relationships: Kim Geonhak | Leedo/Son Dongju | Xion
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	It's Real If You See It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [renhyvckbot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/renhyvckbot/gifts).



> It's supposed to be Dongju-centric but I think I made it more Geonhak-centric instead... I hope you still like it though! >< Happy holiday!

The first time Geonhak goes to the City Forest, it feels unreal.

He's been living in this city for the good part of his life. Years, dating back to the beginning of his school year. When he thinks about it, there were many chances where he could have went—this city forest has been built since before he was born, and had been kept well because of the positive response it got. But really, between the busy life he leads, one way or another, he has never thought of visiting.

 _"Are you there yet?"_ Keonhee's voice from the other end of the line buzzes in Geonhak's ear, " _I won't forgive you if you're late. I'm a busy person, you know."_

"Just come here," Geonhak says, tone annoyed but fond. Apparently, Keonhee heard news of the slum area near the forest getting renovated into some kind of cafe alley and attracting a lot of tourist. As an aspiring Insta-star, Keonhee of course doesn't want to be late to the trend.

_"Come on, I can't disappoint my followers." Keonhee pouts as he continues feeding spoonfuls of pudding to Geonhak's small mouth, who fails at hiding his smile._

_"Sure, I'll go with you."_

_Keonhee's eyes go round, a little taken aback, "That's easy," he says, twirling the spoon, "I shouldn't have shared this pudding with you if I know you're gonna agree that easily."_

_Geonhak laughs, steals the spoon to scoop a big chunk for himself, just to spite him, "Brat."_

_Keonhee whines enough until Geonhak to promise to buy him another pudding from one of the cafe._

The city forest is pretty. Unlike actual forest, it doesn't have the feeling of being mysterious or creepy. The vibe he gets is more like a soft, large garden. All the trees are arranged deliberately, organized into neat squares and lined with stone steps. There are decorative metal fences all around, with subtle orange and yellow paint. It’s pretty in a way someone’s lawn is pretty. It almost doesn’t feel like a forest.

Geonhak follows the stone steps, bowing to an elderly lady he passes by.

There are wooden posts indicating the section of forest he's on. _Mirror pond, picnic spot, jogging track._ It really does feel just like a large playground, or a small theme park. Geonhak pockets his phone, trying to remember in what area he was supposed to wait for Keonhee.

He finds a small passageway between two large pine trees, and, without realizing what he’s doing, he steps in.

The path he steps on is no longer lined with pretty stones.

He passes a line of trees that seems way thicker than the one he sees from the outside. When he looks up, he almost can't see the sky among the canopy of leaves. Tree branches wrap around each other as if in embrace, filtering the sunlight into roundish yellow spots on the ground. _So there are places where it looks like a real forest_.

Geonhak keeps walking.

He finds flowers here and there, splotch of pink and yellow and white among brown and greens. Was there supposed to be flower? He's not sure, but then he sees a particularly large root covered in fluffy green moss, and can't help but follow along.

He goes on and on, finding mushrooms with various size and shape, looking closely but not daring to touch—he doesn't have enough knowledge to determine if any of it isn't actually poisonous. But he sees, sees the cute round head and the ants lining around its clutter. He sees a few bees, a few butterflies, and he doesn't remember the forest being this lively when he walked from the entrance, but maybe they're just hiding from the human crowd walking around, and just then he realizes that he can no longer hear the sounds of human. A chill seeps through his back, and he looks back—

and doesn't remember where he came from.

Geonhak inhales a sharp breathe, feeling his hearbeat starting to spike. _Did he get lost?_ For a split second, he remembers the story he hears about people who get lost in the forest and only found days later, all haggard and dying. _But this is just a city forest, isn't it?_ He won't get lost here, he _shouldn't be able to_. Because despite his terrible sense of direction, he saw the map before going, and the area of the forest was barely four blocks. He _can’t_ be lost.

Geonhak keeps walking ahead, pulled by a strange feeling of urgency. He knows that rather than trying to go back and risk walking around in circles, it's better to go forward because the forest is bound to end. For some reason, he doesn’t realize that the wise course of action would be to stay where he is and call for help.

Eventually, he finds a small clearing, empty of trees, just grass and patch of sunlight. Geonhak steps until he's at the center of it, and looks back.

The view is—beautiful.

It's striking, the way the evening sun almost dips to the horizon, the way rays of sun paints warm picture of orange and yellow to the greens and browns around him. The sky is blue, with a lot of clouds, giving the sunlight a dramatic touch, like magic. Geonhak watches as the cloud drifts off, mesmerized.

He wants to keep this view forever.

Just then, he hears a click behind him, and a small "Oh!"

Geonhak abruptly turns around, and sees a boy holding a mickey shaped polaroid camera, the photo already printing.

"I think I accidentally took your photo, I'm sorry," the boy says, taking out the print, looking at it forlornly, "Here, you can take this."

Their fingers don't brush while Geonhak numbly accepts the photo, but he feels some kind of jolt either way. He looks at the face of the boy, at his pretty curls, his long eyelashes, his wide eyes, his soft cheek, his charming smile. The boy feels almost weirdly magical, and Geonhak can't look away, can't even think to form a reply.

"Hyung, I've been looking for you everywhere!" Keonhee taps his shoulder from the back, and he startles. He didn’t hear Keonhee’s footsteps.

"You were late." He answers in reflex. His mind feels as if someone has just sprinkled water on him while he was dreaming, "I was just walking around."

Keonhee stares at him, with that look that says he's mildly annoyed but won't mention it, "I've been trying to call you for almost fifteen minutes."

Geonhak pulls out his phone from his pocket, bewildered at the 23 missed calls notification that he doesn't remember getting, "I-I guess I just didn't notice, I'm sorry."

Keonhee raises his eyebrows, doesn't sound convinced, "Anyway, let's go."

They leave the place, Geonhak half a step behind Keonhee because he _doesn't remember_ passing these stone steps before, doesn't remember the small pond nor the mini-playground. There aren't any butterflies nor bees nor weirdly shaped mushroom on his way, either. Just neatly decorative plants, neatly decorative metal benches. 

Geonhak chances a look at the sky, and yes, it's still blue, the sun is almost setting completely, but it has lost its magical touch, just a pretty sunset.

He peers at the polaroid he doesn't realize he still holds in his hand. The color has developed, and it's his back, looking at the forest view, basked in magical orange sunlight, and the longer he stares at the cloud, the more he feels like the cloud is slowly drifting.

"Hyung?" Keonhee glances at him, eyebrows furrowed, "You're spacing out."

Geonhak shoves the polaroid to his pants pocket, hoping that it won't get rumpled in the process, "Uh, sorry, was just looking at a butterfly."

Keonhee looks around, muttering _what butterfly?_ in a voice that doesn't look convinced, but Geonhak takes his hand, murmuring _cmon_ , and soon Keonhee is back talking a mile a minute about his coworker who apparently got a new boyfriend after attending seminar two cities over.

 _I should have thanked him_ , Geonhak thinks.

The second time, Geonhak is positive he is dreaming.

One nice Sunday morning, Geonhak is back again to the city forest with the polaroid in his hand. He has looked at it so much in the past few days, and no matter how hard he stares at it, the cloud doesn't drift, the leaves don't rustle. But he was sure he saw it move the first time, even though he can’t prove it. He’s not crazy, or at least he’d like to believe he isn’t. There's something strange in this forest, and he wants to know what it is.

He goes to the entrance, tracing carefully the stone steps and the metal fences, and doesn't pass by anyone. There seems to be less people on Sunday morning than in Friday evening.

He doesn’t find the small pathway at first, but he finds the large root covered in green moss. Only when he tries to follow it that he finds the small path—now he can see clearly—slightly to the side of the stone steps.

Geonhak hesitates. _Is this really okay?_ He wants to tell other people about this, Keonhee perhaps, and ask him whether the path is real. But he decides against it, because for some reason he feels like he wouldn’t be able to find it if he doesn’t come alone. He looks around before stepping in, making sure the world around him hasn't changed. It's still the same lined trees, the same decorative plants. He decides to step in.

This time, instead of splotches of flowers, he finds a lot more mushroom, brown and white and black and red, in clutter between dead trees and moss and fallen leaves.

He finds the clearing in no time, but this time he keeps walking, deeper into the lines and lines of trees, until he sees someone, sitting on the grass, under the a particularly big tree that seems to be a tree which roots he is following.

"Hello," Geonhak doesn't know why he feels the need to greet, but it feels like he has to say something, anything. It feels like he has to be nice to this strange boy in the middle of the forest, has a feeling that this person will be nice to him, too.

The person looks up at him, and Geonhak realizes that he's the same boy who took his photo days ago, by the pretty curled fringes and long lashes framing his beautifully twinkling eyes. He’s pretty.

"Hi," The stranger smiles, "What brings you here again?"

Geonhak is taken aback, "You remember?" It's a ridiculous question, but it feels like it doesn't matter. He just feels like he has to ask something.

"Of course. Do you like the photo?"

Geonhak realizes he's still holding the photo in his hand, now a little creased but the color is still intact, still beautiful. He remembers that he had wanted to say thanks but when he looks at it closely—

"It's really moving."

The boy smiles at him, charming and soft, and there's something in Geonhak that tells him he has to listen to whatever this boy will say.

"Isn't it nice?" The boy pats his hand to the ground beside him, and a patch of soft moss grow under it, spreading into a perfect circle like a mini carpet, "Come sit."

Dazed, Geonhak sits. The boy takes his hand and plays with it like it's natural, and Geonhak lets him. "Who are you?"

"I'm Xion," The boy says, eyes sparkling, and Geonhak swears there's a soft glow around his body, "A forest spirit."

"A forest spirit?" Geonhak squints his eyes, disbelieving that this boy, who looks just like a high school student with oversized hoodie and black ripped jeans, can be something supernatural.

"Doesn't look like it, right?"

Geonhak nods, and Xion laughs, and it sounds like a thousand of birds chirp and leaves rustle, and Geonhak isn't so sure of his opinion anymore. "I'm Geonhak." He says instead.

"Geonhak," Xion holds Geonhak's hand with both of his hands, then looks right at Geonhak's eyes, "What do you think a spirit is?"

When Geonhak comes to himself, he's back at the entrance of the forest, with the polaroid still in his hand, a little creased but beautiful, unmoving.

_He forgets to thank him for the photo again._

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of WeMoon Secret Santa! You can check the other entries [here](https://twitter.com/WMSecretSanta/status/1339788580776890368?s=20)! ^^


End file.
